‘Forbes’ Names GCU Second-best Small Company in U.S.

Grand Canyon University has been named the second-best small company in the nation for the second straight year by Forbes magazine.

Grand Canyon Education, the parent company of GCU, trailed only Questcor Pharmaceuticals of California in Forbes’ annual rankings of the best small companies in America.

“With sales in the past 12 months of $558 million and a marketcap of $1.84 billion, they’re schooling the competition,” Forbes wrote about GCU.

Forbes’ rankings are based on earnings growth, sales growth, return on equity and stock performance. Publicly traded firms with less than $1 billion in annual revenue are eligible for the list.

“It’s just a testament to a lot of hard work by a lot of people here at Grand Canyon University,” Brian Mueller, GCU’s president and CEO, said of the ranking. “Everything that we’ve been able to accomplish in a short amount of time is a reflection of that.

“People here care about doing what’s best for our students, they care about what’s best for our community and they find satisfaction in knowing they are working for a university that has a larger purpose and is doing a lot of good in the world.”

Ground campus enrollment at the private Christian university in the heart of Phoenix has tripled since 2010, to 8,500 students in 2013-14. GCU also has 47,000 students in its engaging online program, of which well over 40 percent are studying at the graduate level.

From 2009-12, GCU invested $308 million in capital expenditures in the University – well above its after-tax income of $182.5 million during that four-year period. An additional $100 million in capital expenditures is earmarked for 2013-14.

The growth has come without increasing tuition for campus students. Tuition has remained at $16,500 per year since 2009, although most students pay far less. Thanks to extensive academic, athletic and transfer scholarships, the average GCU student pays $7,800 per year in tuition.